Functional nutrition, a type of functional medicine, focuses on using healthy, natural foods to help people improve their health. Functional nutritionists provide flexible, individualized care to each person based on their needs. Each person may have a different functional nutrition treatment based on what will be most effective to improve their physical, mental and even spiritual health

This type of individualized care is a hallmark of functional medicine. Functional medicine practices don’t provide a one-size-fits-all common treatment, but they focus on ensuring that each individual receives the care that is right for them. Functional medicine also focuses on improving health by acknowledging how each organ and part of the body work together to achieve optimal function.

This patient-centered, holistic approach has many benefits when it comes to functional nutrition. Functional nutrition looks at the ways food affects the entire body and how foods affect different people. A functional nutritionist will consider a person’s current health conditions, how that affects their holistic health and how different foods will affect their overall health to create a personalized nutrition plan.

As medicine continues to become more individualized, functional nutrition can play a larger role in comprehensive care for patients.

Already functional nutrition is playing a larger role in integrative medicine practices such as massage therapy, chiropractic services, acupuncture, and more. Functional nutrition allows these practitioners to provide more holistic care, providing support and treatment for each aspect of a person’s health.